When scientists talk about the cryosphere, they mean the places on Earth where water is in its solid form, frozen into ice or snow. Read more ...

Service Interruption

On Monday, 11 July from 3:00 p.m. through Wednesday, 13 July until 5:00 p.m. (USA Mountain Time), NSIDC data distribution, services, and Web site will be unavailable to accommodate a major upgrade to our data center. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.
Need to talk to us? You can always contact our friendly User Services Office at nsidc@nsidc.org or + 1 303.492.6199.

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DOWNLOADING DATA VIA FTP

Data can be downloaded through a Web browser or command line via FTP. When using a Web browser, the FTP link first directs you to an Optional Registration Form that if filled out, will allow you to receive notifications about updates or processing changes related to that specific data set. After completing the Optional Registration Form, the FTP directory becomes available. For additional help downloading data through an FTP client, go to the How to access data using an FTP client support page.

High-resolution Image-derived Grounding and Hydrostatic Lines for the Antarctic Ice Sheet, Version 1

This data set provides grounding line and hydrostatic line locations for the Antarctic coastline and islands around Antarctica. The data are derived using customized software to combine data from Landsat-7 imagery and Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimetry, which were primarily collected between 1999 to 2003. The data set also includes elevations along each line, selected from six candidate digital elevation models. The data were developed as part of the Antarctic Surface Accumulation and Ice Discharge (ASAID) project.